I studied the woman carefully. “You’re a lawyer?”
She turned back to me and nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”
I flinched. That was a new one.
“This is Martina Norwood,” Cecil introduced her. “One of the royal family’s human agents. She was born in Faerie at the castle, but now she lives in the human realm and works for us when we need her.”
“Please call me Susan.” I extended my hand for her to shake, and she did. She had a good, strong, firm handshake. “How did you come to be born in Faerie?”
“Both of my parents are permanent guests of the royal family,” she explained. “They met in the scullery and were permitted to mate. I was the result.”
“Permanent guests?”
Cecil caught my eye. Slaves, he mouthed.
Martina saw it. “Both of them were taken as prisoners when they were young teenagers. My mother was caught trying to kill a pixie just outside of a fairy circle in New Orleans, and my father got on the wrong side of a female brownie in Cabo.”
“Let me guess. Your dad told the brownie she was beautiful?”
“Oh, my dad was messing with the brownie. She was working at a resort, and he kept trying to knock her cap off her head. Eventually he managed it, but it removed the brownie’s glamor, and all hell broke loose. As for my mother… well, she has a cruel streak. She was trying to pull the wings off the pixie. The pixie called for help, and a handful of fae heard it, so they pulled her into the fairy circle.”
“And now they’re slaves in the fae realm?” I side-eyed Donovan, but if he noticed, he didn’t turn. He was back at his brooding station, staring out of the window. “Forever?”
“They can’t come back,” Cecil chipped in. “Once a human is taken by the fae, it’s for keeps. There’s no going back.”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Martina gave me a smile. “The fae realm can be a little cruel, but at least they both have jobs and a roof over their heads. It was more than what they had when they were taken.”
It still felt a little icky. “It’s slavery, though. It’s… it’s wrong. We don’t do that here.”
“Yeah, you do, Chosen,” Cecil chipped in.
“Not in the States.”
“Oh, you do. It’s even legal. Your governments just repurposed it and put it in a prettier package. Now, it’s called penal labor.” He drained into his glass. “If you think that the prison industrial complex here in this country isn’t modern-day slavery, you need to look into sentencing disparities.”
I thought about it. “Okay, fair point.” I turned back to Martina. “If you were born in Faerie, how did you get out?”
“I appealed to the Prince when I was a little girl. As you might have guessed, I’m not that fond of my mom and dad, and I always wanted to live in the human world. I’m more of a tech person, not a magic one,” she explained. “Here, little kids have paintings of fairy castles and dragons on their walls. In Faerie, I had a poster for Weekend at Bernie’s on mine. Castles are chilly. And dragons are a nightmare to get rid of.”
I chuckled. “I see.”
“So, when I was eight, I approached Prince Donovan and made a whole speech about how I had committed no crime, so it was unfair to be punished for my parent’s mistakes. He took my case to the Queen.”
“She let you go?”
Martina shook her head. “Oh, no, she just laughed. The Prince let me go, anyway. He said that based on my penchant for arguing, I would be perfect as legal counsel here on the human realm.” Her eyes drifted towards Donovan at the window, her eagle-like stare softening. “He had me placed with human foster parents who looked after me and put me through law school. I’ve been living my dream ever since.”
Why was I not surprised? Donovan had freed Cecil, too. “What kind of law do you practice?”
“Mostly litigation,” Martina said. “Although when the Royal Family needs me, I can do anything. I did help draw up the sale of this building. Having endless amounts of cash really helps with getting things done quickly.”
I nodded. “Would you take me on as a client? I’m in need of a new lawyer. I just fired mine.”
“Of course, Your High—sorry, Susan. What do you need?”
I quickly filled her in about Courtney sleeping with Vincent, and how Vincent’s parents were suing me for the building. She whipped out a notepad from somewhere in her boxy pantsuit and didn’t say anything until I was finished. “The original settlement was reached based on the fact that you’d assaulted your ex-husband, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“We can probably get that conviction quashed, too, since there was provocation that would override malicious intent.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “The whole thing is a house of cards. All you would have to do is prove that your husband’s affair partner was there at the time, and the whole house will collapse.”
“Seraphina had an alibi. Two other interns covered for her. Apparently, they were all at lunch at Topolinos when I attacked Vincent.”
“Easy.” Martina shrugged. “We’ll pull the security camera footage. If it shows they were there alone, I’ll go and threaten them. If the Andresanos paid them off, the threat of jail for perjury might cause them to change their tune.”
“I like the way you think, Martina.” I shook her hand warmly. “Violet? Can you bring me the documents that the Andresano’s lawyers served me?”
She creaked for a second, hesitating. After a brief pause, a flurry of white confetti rained down from the ceiling. I looked up at the little flakes of paper as they fluttered down and sighed. “Violet… Did you shred the summons?” I caught a little piece and saw a hint of incomprehensible legalese. “You did, didn’t you?”
She remained quiet. Her silence sounded a little sulky. I could almost hear her in my head, muttering about how the paper obviously made me sad, so she took care of it for me. “It’s okay, Violet.” I bent down, and patted her floorboards. “I’m sure we can get a copy from their lawyer’s office.”
“It’s Rufus Stonnington, am I right?” Martina was already tapping an email out on her phone. “I’m on top of it.”
I let out a huge exhale. “I’m so glad you’re here, Martina. It feels strange to worry about mundane legal things when Audrina is being held captive by magical creatures who might kill her horribly at any moment.”
“And I’m very pleased to finally meet you, Your High—Susan.” She smiled. “You’re not what I expected at all, and I’m so glad.” Her eyes drifted back towards Donovan. “Although, knowing the Prince like I do, I should have expected it.” She smiled at me warmly. “I’ll be in touch.” She bowed towards Donovan abruptly, turned around, and walked out.
My phone rang two seconds later. “Do you want me to do something about the people stuck inside your old apartment?”
